The 2 constables who were injured during the encounter were airlifted by the Indian Air Force and have been admitted to a hospital

2 constables of the District Reserve Group admitted to a hospital after an encounter with Maoists

Raipur: Two constables of the District Reserve Group or DRG have been injured after Maoists opened fire against security personnel in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district. A team comprising DRG constables and CoBRA commandos were carrying out combing operations in Basaguda area of the district when an encounter broke out between them and the Maoists.

The two constables who were injured have been evacuated by air after receiving first aid. They have been admitted to the Ramakrishna Hospital, where their condition is said to be stable, sources told NDTV. No CoBRA commando has been injured.

Last week the Central Reserve Police Force, or CRPF had said that it plans to deploy a fresh squad of about 2,000 commandos from its special guerrilla warfare CoBRA battalions in Chhattisgarh. The state already has 44 CoBRA teams.

A top official privy to the development said last week that the paramilitary has prepared a blueprint to mobilise at least 20 to 25 companies of the CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) from their present locations in West Bengal, Bihar, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh to places in Chhattisgarh that sees some of the worst Maoist violence. A CoBRA company has about 100 personnel each.

Earlier this month, the central government had shifted CRPF's strategic anti-Naxal operations command headquarters from Kolkata to Chhattisgarh after 37 security personnel were killed by Maoists in the last sixty days.

Areas in and around Chhattisgarh's Sukma district have witnessed a rise in attacks on security forces in the last few months. As recently as April 24, twenty five CRPF personnel were killed after 300 heavily-armed Maoists attacked them in Sukma district's Burkapal area.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who met top officials and Chief Ministers of 10 Maoist affected states last week, has called for a "unity of purpose" to foil attempts made by Maoists to "stall development and throttle democracy at gunpoint". Around 12,000 people have lost their lives to Maoist violence in the last 20 years, he said.